After being diagnosed with an eating disorder in her early teens, she started a rehabilitation program at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Now the 21-year old is using her experience to mentor others as part of PMH’s new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Eating Disorders Program.
‘I was in denial even after I was admitted, it took me a while but then for me once I did come to the complete realisation of what was going on that was my switch and I got into recovery,’ Ms Martin said.
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READ NOW‘Everyone is completely different some girls and boys are not looking to recover yet, it’s too scary for them, they don’t know what it entails, other girls and boys are wanting to recover but don’t know how to do it and obviously some are in the process of recovery so we see across a whole range.’
The Reaching Out for Hope Project, which is a collaboration with the Women’s Health and Family Services, recently received an award for service excellence in the community at the 2014 Mental Health Good Outcome Awards.
Ms Martin said the first peer-support program of its kind in WA had already made a difference to not only the participant’s lives but also her own.
‘I was in the in-patient program and it was very different to the one I am involved in now ” there have been a lot of changes, improvements and additions,’ she said.
‘We’ve had quite a lot of positive feed back from in-patients, out-patients and everyone who has participated.
‘It’s been beneficial for me because it made me realise how far I’ve come and highlighted where I don’t want to be.’